after what?

I shaved today, I guess some male people do that. Not sure if its for the appeasement towards the other gender or has some altogether other kind of cleansing function, I mean I am really not sure.
And then you have Aftershave, basically alcohol with a smell. You are supposed to put this on after your done. I really don´t know what this is good for. Does it save my skin or does it attract butterflies. Heck, this is over my head!
So today I tried out something new. I put the aftershave on first, and then after that I shaved with the razor. What a miracle - it worked.  After this experiment I still smelled like a pimp. No matter how you do it, you can not ever do it right. My conclusion, aftershave is a well thought out marketing gimmick with a lot of odor, nothing more.